


Cheating on a History of Magic Test

by Arika_the_Togepi



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-05-24
Updated: 2015-05-24
Packaged: 2018-04-01 02:27:12
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 4,074
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4002376
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Arika_the_Togepi/pseuds/Arika_the_Togepi
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The teachers at Hogwarts have finally noticed that most students don't take A History Of Magic Class very seriously. So they decided to go Slytherin on them and make them all take a test on it that will have a large part in their final grade. No Slash</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Cheating on the Test

**Author's Note:**

> So I wrote this a long time ago and I really don't know what it is - I came up with it during finals one year where I was thinking that if I had a super intelligent megalomaniac in my brain I'd take advantage of that shit in a heart beat.

Harry groaned and slumped his head down on the desk. Why did he have to do this? It was pointless, unnecessary, and all it did was effectively waste his time; time that could be spent on much more important matters; for instance, training against being killed by a certain annoying dark lord.

Currently Harry was in the middle of taking a History of Magic test, and if Harry failed this they could kick him out of the class altogether. Not that it mattered too much to Harry, but even if he was the Harry Potter; failing and getting kicked out of the History Of Magic wasn't a very easy thing to do and it would look horrid on his OWL's and NEWT's.

Said Dark Lord was indeed, very annoying, more so now than most of the times before. Why? Because he was trying to pester and taunt Harry while he was taking said test and it was making it very hard for Harry to concentrate – not that he probably knew the material anyway. Looking around himself, harry saw that many others were struggling; he was in a room with all of the others in his year and as to be expected, no Slytherins or Ravenclaws seemed to be having a hard time. Not that they would show it on their face if they were.

The other two houses weren't nearly as lucky. The Gryffindor's had each written off History of Magic as important from Year 1 instead treating it like an extra nap time during the day after the stress of potions class or just before it. So it's not like any of them ever payed attention any more in class (except Hermione, but that's besides the point, everyone knows she should have been a Ravenclaw).

Ron was having a specifically rough time as he was sitting right beside Hermione who's quill he could hear scratching away at the page. Every time he looked over at her she would catch him and give him a look that said, 'I told you to study – you're the one who didn't listen!'. Not all of the Hufflepuffs were doing poorly, some looked very confident; but most of them, like Ron, were struggling.

Harry glanced back down at the paper and reread the question, Who was Rognak the Scary and why was he hated by the goblins? Shaking his head from trying to remember who this goblin was let alone answer the question, the boy with the scar focused on the Dark Lord trying to invade his mind.

There was a flash of pain in his head and he heard the dreaded one's voice. "He was the general of the second army and the other goblins hated him because he had, and it's so hard to guess, an incredibly pungent odour."

Harry blinked a few times, "What?"

Tom sighed in Harry's head, "I gave you the answer to the question you just read. Could you not tell?"

"Sorry if I am a a small amount surprised!" Harry exclaimed loudly (but only in his head of course) "It is not everyday Dark Lords/people out to kill me invade my mind just to help me with the answers to a test!"

"I'm very very very bored." the Darkest Lord of all time gave as way of explanation. "Do you want help with it or not?"

Harry didn't really know what to do, what he should do. Should he accept taking the help or not? Because really, what harm could it do? It wasn't like he was being asked to join the man, to torture somebody, or betray the Light in anyway. The elder wizard was only offering to help him the answers to a History test that he needed to do well on so he could get a good job after it was all over.

"He probably doesn't think I'll make it that far anyway." Harry thought to himself, believing that Tom had stopped listening. He was surprised to find that the once snake-faced like man had not stopped listening in on his inner turmoil.

"I don't actually, but as I said before, I am bored, and my helping you isn't going to do anything to hurt my war effort so what the hell. Do you accept my help?" he did indeed sound very bored.

"Yes." I thought back to him.

So Harry went through the entire paper with Lord Voldemort, who told him the answers and waited somewhat patiently while he was writing them down. Though he did mock Harry about the questions he had attempted to answer on his own before being offered help.

"Turn back to the first page and let me see if you got the first question right. Oh, it does say Harry Potter, you seem so inept at answering questions I was worried for a moment." yet, the older wizard was quite civil for the duration of the test.

Harry was scribbling out the last answer as Tom told him that the time was about to be up and he should probably write faster. As McGonagall walked around to gather the tests after the announcement was made that time was up, Harry silently (to everyone but Harry and Voldemort) thanked him for the help.

"Just hope I don't get bored while you sleep Potter. And if you tell anyone about this, and they for some idiotic reason believe you and don't immediately ship you off to St Mungo's, and they find me and have the will to ask me about it, I will deny it vehemently." And with that the presence was gone.

Harry couldn't say he expected anything less from the Darkest Lord of all time.  
Then again, nothing would surprise him now.

Waiting for Ron and Hermione, he heard Ron moan as Hermione started going through the test with a photographic memory; telling them that they should have tried harder and did their own homework for a change. It was a small story that had heard many times before.

Ron was grumbling about how it was 'unfair our year and generation got stuck with it but no one else ever did'; he was also stating and pointing out every little thing he got wrong or forgot to add when Hermione went through the paper. While Harry definitely didn't like the idea of the test, he understood its importance. To teach the kids that slacking off in History of Magic wasn't going to be accepted any more.

Finishing her little speech of the test, the duo started talking about how the test would count for a large part of their final grade and it could effect the job recommendations greatly for many people when they were older. Hermione was as always calm and not frightened at it at all, happy with the idea that she did it to her full potential and they couldn't ask any more of her. Ron was saying how sure he was that he was going to fail and his parents would be devastated. Both of them turned to Harry to see him grinning slightly.

Ron looked at him worried, "Aren't you at all afraid you're going to fail?"

Harry just shrugged in a nonchalant way and said, "Nah. I'm pretty sure I'll ace it." with which he strided into the Great Hall for lunch, leaving Hermione to explain to Ron what 'Acing' something meant and to puzzle over what he suggested.


	2. Cheaters Can Prosper

Harry and Hermione walked out of the doors that led to the green outside part of the Hogwarts grounds. They planned on going to the tree in front of the lake – a place that the Golden trio frequented often on the hot sunny days that was known as the Hogwarts summer. The current duo were talking about a celebration that was apparently going to happen in the some how near future.

"I can't believe it, can you?" Hermione asked, sounding properly incredulous.

"I guess so. I mean, it isn't that surprising that more than three quarters of the Ravenclaw house got one hundred percent on the test." Harry said, almost patronizingly; while he avoided what she was really talking about.

Hermione sighed, "Harry," she muttered something unintelligent under her breath that Harry couldn't hear, "you know that that's not what I meant."

Of course not. She was talking about the announcement that the Headmaster had made a few minutes ago at lunch. The scores on the school wide History test were really overall poor, and it proved that the teachers were right when they thought that no one took the class seriously.

But, Dumbledore thought it would be a good idea to tell everyone the percentages of how many people got a one hundred on the test in each house. Unsurprisingly, as Harry pointed out, Ravenclaw won with three fourths of the students getting one hundred. It also unsurprising that Slytherin came next, and very closely behind, with two thirds of the kids getting one hundred. A tenth of Hufflepuff got the full percentage correct, but Harry blamed most of this on the fact that for many of the younger years (when they are more susceptible) History of Magic was right after or right before Potions class, which all Hufflepuff's feared.

Instead of saying the dismal percentage of how many students got one hundred in Gryffindor, the headmaster just looked at his old table sadly, though also a little surprisingly, and simply said the number of students that won. Two. He had said two. The entire table knew that one person who definitely got one hundred was Hermione, which meant that there was sudden speculation about who else won; many rumors about Hermione helping Ron or Harry cheat speculated but it was idiotic because everyone knew Hermione would't do that.

"Who else do you think it could be Harry?" Hermione asked, staring ahead at the tree.

"Well, any Gryffindor really. Hey, it might be me! Or Ron!" Hermione gave out a little chuckle.

"Sure Harry; but really who do you think?"

The idea that Hermione thought that there was no way Ron or him could have possibly also gotten a hundred angered him greatly; well except for the part about Ron. He would never ever be able to win and Ron knew it. That's where he was currently – asking Professor McGonagall if there was any way that they could make up the points lost if they failed the test. He only did so himself because he was trying to impress Hermione.

Speaking of his ginger friend, he appeared as Harry said somewhat snidely, "How do you know that you're one of the people that won Hermione?"

"Hey, hey," Ron started, panting, "what's going on?"

Hermione gave Harry a mean look but apparently thought that Ron was more important and let go the train of thought that Harry started. "We were discussing who the other Gryffindor that won would be."

Ron nodded and laughed, "Yeah, Harry right? Didn't you say that you'd thought you'd B'd it, or something?"

Harry laughed along with his friends, uneasy at the friendly sarcasm; did they really not think him capable? "Aced, Ron. Aced." They laughed some more.

Harry changed the subject, "What did McGonagall say?" he asked.

Hermione muttered, "Professor McGonagall," under her breath.

Ron looked unhappy as they reached the tree, "No good. If we fail, we fail. End of."

"I told you that you two needed to study..." Hermione started. Clearly she was going to go into one of her 'I told you you needed to study blah blah blah' rants, so Harry tuned her out; deciding to think of more important things. He had to be the other person that got one hundred percent. It was a secret that he hadn't told his friends but it was true all the same: he had cheated on the test with the help of Tom Riddle.

During the test his head had been hurting terribly, as it often did, and Harry knew that it was because the Dark Lord was attempting (not really attempting, more so doing, Harry was shit at occulumency) to get into his head. Though there were a few snide comments, there were quite a few less than what Harry would have expected.

And now it was days later and Harry hadn't heard a thing out of the dark lord, and this was rather unusual of him. Harry would feel concern, but considering that the other man had tried to kill him so many times in his still short life, Harry found it difficult to drudge up any kind of the feeling.

"Harry are you even listening to me?" Hermione asked, looking Harry in the eye. She looked very snobby, from the position Harry was in. He had slid to a sitting position next to the tree, his back against it.

"Of course I am, 'Mione." he replied automatically, looking out onto the lake.

She looked as if she was going to go on to another rant, this one about how he and Ron don't listen enough and how this was just the reason that they were going to fail that test that was going to diminish our scores and everything when Ron decided to step in so that he and Harry (also everyone else on the green, as they weren't alone and Hermione did have a loud voice) would not have to listen to it.

"Oh, yeah. But I did find out when the scores are going to come to us." Ron said, sending a wink to Harry as the raven haired wizard looked at him with something akin to thanks on his face.

"When Ron?" Hermione asked, anticipant, this time, fully distracted from the previous topic.

"Today, actually, in fact," the ginger boy cast a quick Tempus to see the time, "right about now."

As he said this Hermione began looking around for the owls that she was sure would bring her one hundred precent test score and the below fifty for each of the boys. Harry was the one that saw them first, however, a trio of small, slick looking black owls were making their way towards them, carrying little envelopes in their claws.

"There they are!" Harry pointed the owls out to Hermione, as she turned to look at them. The female next to him began jumping up and down as Harry tried to shift a little away from her to try and not associate with her too much. This was of course impossible as they were both part of the golden trio, but Harry did it anyway.

Watching what he guessed was his owl, he prodded at the wall in his mind that he knew contained Voldemort's mind on the other side. Time to see what the Dark Lord had been up to for the past few days, it would seem. "Hey!" Harry shouted in his mind, "you ass I know you're there!"

"What," there came a growl in his head, along with a sharp pain in his scar, "do you want Potter?"

"The test scores are here," Harry told him as the owl gave him his letter. He thanked it out loud as it flew away, "and I thought you might be interested in looking at them with me."

"And why," the voice continued to growl, though it sounded somewhat less angry and also less groggy, as if the man had been asleep, "would that concern me?"

"Because you helped," Harry said. He looked at Ron and Hermione again. They were apparently arguing; or really Hermione was trying to lecture Ron (and himself, Harry guessed) but Ron kept butting in trying to stop her. It seemed as though Ron had opened his letter first and was flailing it about in his hand, but if Harry read it right it said 53%. He barely passed, Ron did. That was a surprise.

Harry felt kind of bad, he was expecting Ron to fail in the same way that Hermione had expected him to fail. "Yes," Tom told him, "you are being a hypocrite. Just clarifying, because I figured your little mind might not be able to work it out. Though for the record, without me you probably wouldn't have passed."

Hermione had opened her letter but hadn't actually taken out the quiz results from it; she must have gotten too busy arguing with Ron. She was saying something along the lines of: 'You two will never get god jobs because you failed History of Magic!', whereas Ron was saying, 'You don't need good History scores to become an auror, and anyway, I passed! Also, you don't know Harry's score!'

At this Hermione and Ron both turned to look at Harry and his unopened envelope. Hermione was saying, "Harry what did you get? Go on, open it." Ron was saying something among the same lines.

"Tell her to look at her's first," Tom muttered, "so that you can be last to see the look on her face."

Harry smirked inwardly and followed what Tom told him, saying out loud, "Why don't you open yours first Hermione? What'd you get?"

Hermione looked from Harry to her own letter, and concluded, taking out the paper and unfolding it, "Well of course, nothing less than an..." she trailed off as she looked at the paper. "WHAT?" she shouted, as everyone turned around to look at them, or at least, those that hadn't already been looking.

"What's wrong?" Ron asked, "Not the one hundred you had been expecting?"

Ron was just as incredulous as Hermione, and in truth so was Harry. But Harry was filled with another emotion; mostly a feeling of justice, "Serves her right," a voice in his mind said, but Harry wasn't sure if it was Tom or his own conscience. He didn't really care either – either way he agreed with it.

"No," Hermione told Ron, shouted more like, "only ninety eight percent? How? What did I get wrong?!" She continued to stare at her paper like an idiot until she shook herself visibly. There was snickering in the back of Harry's head, and she turned to look at him, determination in her eyes.

"She's going to want you to have a terrible score so that she can make herself feel better," Tom told him, "wait until you get better than her." Harry heard the snickering again and he started to wonder if maybe Tom had something to do with Hermione not getting one hundred. Impossible right?

"Harry," Hermione told him, "why don't you open yours now?" she had a small grin on her face and Harry knew that Tom was right. She wanted to make herself feel better.

Harry felt a little bit anxious as he opened the seal of the letter, because what if Tom had been wrong? What if there had ben a question that Hermione got wrong and that Tom would have also gotten wrong as they were both extremely smart?

"Did you just compare me to a mudblood?" the voice in his head asked, and Harry could tell that he was glaring, or would be if he could, at him.

"Indeed," Harry thought, with no other to about reprimanding Tom for calling hermione a mudblood instead of muggle born. Both of his friends eyes were on him and his hands, as he knew that Tom's focus was on him and looking through his eyes entirely. Harry took it as a sign that he should open the letter more slowly.

"Hurry up mate," Ron told him, "the suspense is killing me."

This made Harry laugh and he ripped the rest of the letter open. He took out the paper carefully as if it was his death warrant, and unfolded it at an angle that neither Hermione nor Ron could see. He stared at it for a few seconds before Hermione said, "Well?"

"Indeed Potter," Tom said snidely, "what else did you expect from me?"

"I... I got ten percent..." Harry said, shock written clear on his face. The snickering in the back of his head returned as he stared at Hermione, very intensely for some reason, as she sighed knowing that even if she answered one question incorrectly she was still the best.

"Sorry mate," Ron began to say when Harry interrupted him, laughing.

"Psych!" Harry shouted, standing quickly, still laughing. He knew they were wondering what he meant, so he shouted, "one hundred percent! Yes! Yes!" he fist pumped the air just because he could. He then stared at Hermione as her face went from shock to disbelief, to embarrassment, to anger, to jealousy. Her lips puckered, her eyes squinted while she also seemed to develop a twitch under the left one, her nose flared, and she blushed all at the same time. She was really out of whack.

"Really, what else did you expect Potter? How could I receive anything less?" Tom told him very snobbishly, but Harry couldn't have cared less. Ron however, was not to be left out in the theatrics of the whole thing. He dropped to the ground on his knees at Harry's feet.

"Please oh great and mighty one, tell me how you did it, please!" Ron told him, looking at him in something like awe, though a little thoughtful as well; he was there with Harry during every study hall spent playing Exploding Snap, during ever long night playing chess instead of homework, every class in which they slept, and every class that they just didn't go to altogether.

He figured that Harry would do as poorly as him, though maybe a bit better as Harry retained information more easily than the ginger. But he would never had thought that Harry could have beaten Hermione! "Harry, what did you do to be able to get that?" Ron asked, standing up, his point being brought across.

Harry was saddened as he stood up and this somewhat frightened him, he was enjoying being bowed down to. ("There's more than just that Potter, that is great about having someone look up so highly at you," a voice in the back of his mind reminded him. The idea sent some kind pleasure and aching to figure out what he was talking about so Harry ignored it entirely).

Hermione looked down at him snobbishly, even while he was standing he was still shorted than her. "Harry, I think you should go to McGonagall right now."

"Why?" Harry asked incredulous. He was so happy at this stage, someone could have told him something terrible had happened and he probably wouldn't have cared, ("You're being cynical," that voice spoke again). "Is there something wrong with me being right for once?" he tried to look innocent, ("You failed," Harry was tiring of that voice being mean to him).

"Because Harry, it's obvious you got someone else's score by mistake. You should be a big boy and go tell McGonagall yourself." Hermione told him as if she was better.

"No." Harry snarled a little overly nastily, "You're just angry because I beat you. Because I got a higher score than you for once in something other than Defense Against the Dark Arts. I am capable of being smart you know."

"Harry I never said that," she realized her mistake, Harry supposed, "but you didn't study at all, you never paid attention in class-"

"How do you know that? Maybe I studied when you were all asleep." He walked back a few paces from them, "Maybe I payed attention in a way different than your own and you didn't notice. Maybe I absorb information well through my sleep. It doesn't matter how, but I got this score and it is mine."

He began walking back o the castle in a huff and he didn't try to block the voice that told him, "She's just jealous," in his head as he agreed. Maybe Voldemort was trying to sway him to his side with this after all, but he didn't care. If anything, it was working.

Ron stood between Harry and Hermione as she left in a huff in the opposite direction, after a few moment he chose Hermione because he was trying to impress her and make her like him; whereas he knew Harry would get over this eventually.

"Thanks Tom," Harry muttered in his head. "But I was using my resources that just so happened to come to me while I was taking the test. I really didn't cheat."

His reply was, "Yeah right."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So I don't have any other chapters waiting in the wings but if enough people review saying they want one I'll do my best to whip something up >.


End file.
